The 1999 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. It was the 87th ion of the Australian Open and was held from 18 through 31 January 1999. This was the first Grand Slam of the calendar year. Total attendance for the event reached 391,504.[1]

In the singles competition, Petr Korda and Martina Hingis were the defending champions. Korda was unseeded at this tournament and was eliminated in the third round by American 15th seed Todd Martin. This loss resulted in him falling down the rankings from 20th to 76th.[2] Later in July, Korda received a suspension from tennis by the ITF after testing positive for nandrolone at Wimbledon last year. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, on the other hand, ended up becoming the men's champion, defeating surprise finalist Swede Thomas Enqvist in four sets. With this win, Kafelnikov became the first Russian, male or female, to win an Australian Open title. In the women's singles, two-time defending champion Martina Hingis successfully defended her title, defeating another surprise finalist in Frenchwoman Amélie Mauresmo. This win allowed Hingis to join Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles as the only women to have won three consecutive Australian Open titles. Amélie Mauresmo would later become the World No. 1 in 2004, and despite being one of the top players of the early to mid-2000s, this would be her only Grand Slam final until the 2006 Australian Open, which she won.

Events[]

Seniors[]

There were five competitions open to professional tennis players. The Association of Tennis Professionals and Women's Tennis Association awarded ranking points in all events apart from the mixed doubles. The singles draws were contested by one hundred and twenty eight players, while sixty four teams partook in the doubles events, and thirty two teams lined up in the mixed doubles competition.

Men's Singles[]

Yevgeny Kafelnikov won his first Australian Open title in a tournament filled with numerous upsets.

With World No. 1 Pete Sampras absent, along with World No. 2 and last year's finalist Marcelo Ríos, the No. 1 spot was thought to be up for grabs coming into this year's Australian Open.[3]Andre Agassi was considered the favourite, having won the 1995 Australian Open and having what was thought to be an easy path to the semifinals, Carlos Moyà being the only player considered to be a threat to him. Patrick Rafter was also considered a favourite, despite having in-form players Thomas Enqvist and Mark Philippoussis in his path. Àlex Corretja was another possibility to claim the No. 1 spot, being the World No. 3 and only a third round appearance to defend.

The first round saw the first upset of the tournament,[5] with Moyá falling to World No. 37 Nicolas Kiefer in four sets. 12th seed Albert Costa, 13th seed Cédric Pioline and 16th seed Thomas Johansson also fell in the first round. Corretja, 15th seed Todd Martin and Korda all survived five set encounters. The second round saw the end of Corretja's No. 1 dreams as went down in four sets to World No. 86 Christian Ruud. Rusedski was also the victim of an upset, falling to qualifier Paul Goldstein also in four sets. The third round saw further upsets, as Rafter fell in four sets to Enqvist, Henman went down to Swiss Marc Rosset in three, and Krajicek went down to Wayne Ferreira in five. The third round also saw the end of Korda, falling to Martin in five sets; and Kafelnikov survive an encounter with 1992 and 1993 champion Jim Courier, Courier having retired in the fourth set.

The fourth round saw Martin, Kafelnikov and Kučera being the only seeds to progress to the quarterfinals. 14th seed Mark Philippoussis fell to Enqvist, and Agassi was defeated by World No. 44 Vincent Spadea in four sets. Unseeded players Tommy Haas, Nicolás Lapentti and Marc Rosset also progressed. The quarterfinals saw the end of Martin, being defeated by Kafelnikov in three sets. It also saw Haas defeating Spadea, and Enqvist continuing his good form against Rosset. The quarterfinals also witnessed the end of Kučera, being defeated in a five-set contest against Lapentti. This meant that Sampras would not be forfeiting his No. 1 ranking as previously predicted.

The semifinals saw the final seed in the draw, Kafelnikov, progressing past Haas in three sets to reach his first Grand Slam final since 1996. His opponent was Enqvist, who also passed to the final in three sets, defeating Lapentti. The final saw Enqvist win the first set, before Kafelnikov came back to take the next three. Kafelnikov's ranking rose to No. 3 following this tournament, and he became the first Russian tennis player to win the Australian Open.

The first round of the women's singles saw every seed go through except for 13th seed Irina Spîrlea,[6] who lost to former finalist and last year's semifinalist Anke Huber, 7–5, 6–4. There was a scare, however, for 5th seed Venus Williams, who dropped the first set to World No. 82 Croatian Silvija Talaja, 3–6, and was struggling through the third; at one point being two points away from defeat. However, in the end, she managed to survive, winning, 3–6, 6–3, 9–7.[7] The second round was the setting for the first major upset of the tournament when 4th seed and two-time finalist Arantxa Sánchez Vicario fell easily to the World No. 24 Barbara Schett, 6–2, 6–2. 8th seed Patty Schnyder also fell in the second round to teenage Frenchwoman and World No. 29, Amélie Mauresmo, 6–7(1–7), 6–4, 6–3.

The third round saw 15th seed Natasha Zvereva fall to Chanda Rubin in three sets, last year's finalist and 9th seed Conchita Martínez go down in three sets to Émilie Loit in what was Loit's first Top 10 victory,[8] and another major upset when 3rd seed Jana Novotná lost to Spaniard María Sánchez Lorenzo, 6–3, 6–0. 14th seed Sandrine Testud was almost the victim of another upset, but she saved two match points against her opponent Serena Williams and defeated her, 6–2, 2–6, 9–7.[9] The third round also saw the end of home dreams, when Aussies Nicole Pratt and Jelena Dokić both fell to Amélie Mauresmo and Martina Hingis respectively. The fourth round saw an easy progression for the World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport over the last qualifier remaining, Canadian Maureen Drake. Fellow Americans Venus Williams and Monica Seles also had easy wins; as did Steffi Graf, Mary Pierce and Dominique Van Roost. Defending champion Martina Hingis lost the second set to Amanda Coetzer, but came back to easily take the third, 6–1. The final spot in the quarterfinals was decided by an all-French match between Émilie Loit and Amélie Mauresmo. Mauresmo won the first set without losing a game, and then went on to win the second set, 7–5, despite a valiant effort from Loit.

The quarterfinals saw Davenport easily defeat Williams, Hingis breeze through Pierce, and Seles coming back from 4–5 down in the first set to defeat Graf, 7–5, 6–1, which would be the last match in their rivalry which Seles won; and her only post-stabbing victory over Graf. Surprise quarterfinalist Mauresmo continued her momentum, causing another upset by defeating Van Roost in two sets. In the semifinals, Mauresmo went on to cause the biggest upset of the tournament, by defeating the World No. 1 Davenport in three sets, 4–6, 7–5, 7–5, despite Davenport leading 4–2 in the third set.[11] On the other side, Martina Hingis reached her third consecutive Australian Open final, having defeating Monica Seles, 6–2, 6–4, and restricting Seles' Open Era record for an Australian Open winning streak made by a woman to 33. In the final, Hingis defeated Mauresmo in straight sets, 6–2, 6–3. With this win, Hingis joined Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles as the only women to have won three consecutive Australian Open titles.
[10]

Kuerten and Lapentti withdrew from the quarterfinals due to Lapentti's unexpected run to the semifinals of the singles competition. As such, Björkman and Rafter (who would've been their opponents) got an effective bye to the semifinals of the doubles. First seeds Bhupathi and Paes joined them, after triumphing over Reneberg and Stark; second seeds Woodbridge and Woodforde followed, defeating Kafelnikov and Vacek; and fourth seeds Ferreira and Leach also went through, defeating Galbraith and Haarhuis.

Bhupathi and Paes easily defeated Ferreira and Leach, 7–6(7–1), 6–3, 7–6(7–5) to end up in the final, where they were joined by Björkman and Rafter; who came back from two sets down to defeat the Woodies, 3–6, 4–6, 6–2, 6–2, 8–6. The final of the men's doubles ended up also going to five sets after Bhupathi and Paes won a very close tiebreaker in the fourth (12–10). However, Björkman and Rafter took out the fifth set 6–4 to claim Björkman's second and Rafter's only Grand Slam doubles title.

The first round saw one major casualty in Martínez and Tarabini, who fell to wildcards Jelena Dokić and Åsa Carlsson.[13] The first round also saw a quick end to Lučić and Pierce, who fell in straight sets to Christina Singer and Helena Vildová. The second round saw the fall of Likhovtseva and Sugiyama, and Spîrlea and Vis. The only major casualty of the third round was de Swardt and Tatarkova.

All the top three seeds made it to the semifinals, and they were joined by the up-and-coming Williams sisters, who defeated Neiland and Sánchez Vicario en route. Davenport and Zvereva defeated the Williams sisters to reach the final, in what is their fifth consecutive Grand Slam final; and Davenport's fourth consecutive Australian Open final in doubles. They were joined by Hingis and Kournikova, in what is also Hingis' fifth consecutive Grand Slam doubles final and Kournikova's first. Hingis and Kournikova triumphed in straight sets, 7–5, 6–3, to make Hingis' fifth doubles Grand Slam win and the fifth doubles Grand Slam defeat of Davenport and Zvereva.

The semifinals had Manon Bollegraf and Pablo Albano, who defeated Vis and Haarhuis earlier, draw against wildcards Serena Williams and Max Mirnyi, who defeated Stubbs and Grabb. The other side had Graham and Ferreira drawn against de Swardt and Adams. Williams and Mirnyi easily defeated Bollegraf and Albano in straight sets, while de Swardt and Adams came back from a set down to defeat Graham and Ferreira. In the final, de Swardt and Adams triumphed after losing the second set to take the decider in a close tiebreak.

Petrova and Hergold defeated Collin and Vinci to reach the semifinals in two sets. Bašternáková disposed of Baker in three to meet Hergold, while Razzano dropped the first set but won the next two to upset Daniilidou and meet Petrova. The semifinals saw Razzano stun Petrova by defeating the Russian in straight sets. Bašternáková was struggling against Hergold, but ended up winning in three sets to make a final appearance. Razzano ended up dominating Bašternáková in the final, only dropping two games to win.

The first round saw an early exit to Hodge and Martin, falling to Canadians Philip Gubenco and Charles-Antoine Sévigny.[17] South African fifth seeds Andrew McDade and Dirk Stegmann, Norwegian fifth seeds Stian Boretti and Jørgen Vestli, and American sixth seeds Simone Amorico and Alex Bogomolov, Jr. also fell. The remaining seeds then proceeded through the quarterfinals without too much trouble.

Chramosta and Navrátil got a virtual bye through to the semifinals after their opponents, Maximilian Abel and Jaroslav Levinský, withdrew. Melzer and Pless passed easily to the semifinals, as did Italian fourth seeds Francesco Aldi and Stefano Mocci. Gubenco and Sévigny also advanced.

Melzer and Pless fought off a three-set contest from their Canadian opponents to win, 6–2, 4–6, 6–2. The other semifinal match saw Chramosta and Navrátil recover from losing the first set in a tiebreak, to win the second in another tiebreak and the third in a bagel. The first set of the final also ended up being a tiebreak, which went to the Czechs. However, Melzer and Pless came back, only dropping three games, to take the next two sets and the championships.

The first round witnessed the defeat of the fourth seeded Czechs Dominika Luzarová and Iveta Benešová, as well as the defeat of the sixth, seventh and eighth seeds.[18] The second round saw one further upset, with Cargill and Dawaf falling to Eleni Daniilidou and Virginie Razzano. Despite winning the first set, 6–4, the Americans only won one game in the final two sets.

Clayton and Sewell won the first set against Daniilidou and Razzano, but the Europeans prevailed, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4. The other semifinal match also went to three sets, but Grandin and Rencken ended up defeating Bedáňová and Mojzis, 6–4, 4–6, 6–4. The final was decisive, with Daniilidou and Razzano dominating Grandin and Rencken throughout, only dropping two games to win, 6–1, 6–1.